


No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

by DesertVixen



Category: All About Eve (1950)
Genre: Adultery, Bad Decisions, Betrayal, F/M, Gen, Pressure to meet expectations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 03:10:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20717120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: Eve Harrington returns to the theater





	No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tanaqui](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanaqui/gifts).

_No good deed goes unpunished._

Karen Richards wondered how different things would be if she had simply walked by the mousy girl in the battered hat and coat she kept seeing, haunting the stage door. 

It had seemed innocent at the time, even charming, flattering – especially when she’d revealed to Karen that she saw the play every night. Even Karen didn’t watch the play every night, and she was married to the man who’d written it.

She had fallen for the girl’s dignified story of hardship, and so had Margo. Looking back, Karen could see how it had been a rehearsed, pitch-perfect performance. It had hit every note perfectly, even for seasoned members of the theater. Only Birdie – savvy, tough, street smart Birdie – had seen through it. 

If only they had listened.

If only they had not let Eve Harrington into their circle, into their lives.

But they had. 

Eve had been so earnest, so eager to please, so helpful that they had overlooked how hard she was to turn down. She had expertly maneuvered her wat in, cleared the path to getting herself a place in the theater itself without actually asking for one. She had played her role perfectly. Karen had to give her credit for being a brilliant actress. She had a blazing talent that belonged on the stage, but Karen just wished that she had found some other road, one that didn’t involve wreaking havoc on their lives.

It had been Karen who had made the stupid decision to give Eve a chance to play the lead, created an opportunity for the understudy to shine that she would never get from Margo, who had to be on her deathbed not to be on the stage. She’d provided the trap that kept Margo from the stage. 

Karen had always intended to tell Margo about it sometime, had though they would laugh about it sometime. She had told herself that Margo would see the humor in the situation. 

But Eve had taken the opportunity and run with it, bringing Addison DeWitt and his poisonous pen into play. Karen knew she could never tell Margo now, not after Addison had written such cutting words about Margo, casting a bright light on her imperfections and age next to Eve’s shining youth. 

Then the joke, the story, the opportunity had been blown up into their current situation, where Eve had shown her sharp fangs. Eve had used Karen’s misguided kindness against her to secure the plum role of Cora – or rather, she had tried to. She had resorted to nothing short of an attempt at blackmail, trusting that Karen would not have the courage to play it off. 

It had only been luck that Margo didn’t want to play Cora, didn’t want to play yet another young woman's role. Karen had felt the most absurd sense of relief – until Eve was cast in the role. Somehow Lloyd had simply cast her without asking Karen how she felt about it. She’d had to watch as Eve drove subtle wedges between people who had always worked well together, until finally Karen had stopped going. There was no need to go when Lloyd couldn’t stop talking all about Eve, or about her enemies. Bill and Lloyd had fought over every aspect of the play, far worse than she had ever seen. 

Then the calls had started – the calls and the late nights and early mornings and too many instances in which Lloyd was absent. Karen had not even traveled to the off-Broadway opening of the play – and Lloyd had said nothing about it. Perhaps there was nothing going on, perhaps Lloyd would remain faithful, but Karen refused to be part of it.

Eve had played them all so well, using everyone’s weaknesses against them. The play had been a success, but Karen had wondered if it was worth the price they had paid. When the first flush of success had worn off and Lloyd had come home, he had been very attentive – almost guiltily so. She had refrained from saying anything critical of Eve, especially when she was nominated for the Sarah Siddons award. If she won, it would reflect on Lloyd and Bill and Max as well. 

And when Eve announced that she was going to the West Coast to test for Hollywood, Karen had been happy. She hoped Eve would be successful, hoped they would sign her to a lucrative contract, hoped that Clark Gable would sweep her off her feet. She even wished once that the plane carrying Eve to Hollywood would crash, but regretted it – that would be unfair to the other passengers.

She hoped Eve Harrington would never come back to New York, to the theater, no matter how much she promised that her heart was there. 

But she had returned. Karen had been forced to live the whole cycle over again, until finally they had reached opening night. There would be no out-of-town opening this time, not for the youngest actress ever to win the Sarah Siddons award. No, whatever happened tonight would happen in front of a packed house.

*** 

It had all started with the telegram from Eve, who had somehow heard about Lloyd’s newest play, and how much she wanted to read for the role. Once again, Lloyd had casually announced that Eve would be starring in the play.

This time, however, things weren’t going so smoothly. 

She and Lloyd had fought over the latest play, all because Karen had simply asked why he only wrote roles for young women. She had asked why he couldn’t write a play that featured a middle-aged woman who just shot her husband, as Margo had once suggested. 

His response, that audiences found middle-aged women boring, still hung between them. He’d said nothing about her reading the script, something she had always done. Karen could only assume it was because he didn’t want to hear what she had to say.

Bill had refused to direct the play, had refused to work with Eve. Karen admired him for standing firm, until she realized that Lloyd intended to direct as well. He had never directed, and Karen feared that it showed in the turmoil that characterized the few rehearsals she attended. Somehow, directing included a lot of late nights, nights where Karen woke up and realized Lloyd had never come in. She couldn’t understand how her husband, a man who was generally pretty smart about people, couldn’t see what a snake Eve was. 

Max Fabian was consuming a great deal more bicarbonate of soda than normal. Karen couldn’t blame him, since she had the uneasy feeling that this play was not going to be as good as the last one. 

Margo said nothing about the play or the theater when they met, which was becoming less and less frequent. Karen had been spending a great deal more time painting in her studio, where at least she reigned supreme.

Eve was different as well. Karen wondered what had happened to make her so brittle, and suspected that Eve was drinking quite a bit. She was still incredible, but there was a hardness, a tension that had not been there before. 

Addison DeWitt seemed to be the only person who hadn’t suffered from Eve’s entrance into their lives. Karen wondered if perhaps he had something to do with the changes to Eve’s demeanor, wondered if he was holding something over her head. As much as Karen hated to admit it, they needed him to write a good review of the play to truly be a success.

Karen just hoped they would all survive opening night. She would be there, this time – would be at every performance of the play if needed to keep Eve in her place. 

*** 

The next morning, Karen sat in her studio alone, listening to someone knock on the door.

The play had gone off without a hitch. Somehow, somehow, everything had come together, and Eve had led the cast in a masterful performance. She’d watched the play from her usual spot next to Lloyd, and had felt as if things were turning around, as if she could breathe easier.

Until she’d gone to Eve Harrington’s dressing room to congratulate Eve, and walked in on Eve – naked as the day she’d been born – drawing Lloyd down to the couch. There was no mistaking what was happening, no way to explain it away. Worse, Addison DeWitt had walked in right behind her, almost as if he had known what was happening behind the closed door.

Karen had fled, ignoring the panicked pleas from Lloyd as she somehow escaped, somehow found a cab and got home. She had been prepared to deny him entrance to their apartment, but he had never come home.

The knocking on her door became insistent, until finally Karen forced herself to her feet, forced herself to open the door.

Bill and Margo stood there.

“We need to come in,” he said quietly. “There’s been an accident.”

“It was no accident,” Karen said as she let them in, seated herself on the couch as if in a dream. “It was very clear what was happening in her dressing room.”

Margo sat beside her, took her hand. “Have you seen the papers?”

Karen shook her head. “I haven’t faced the outside world. I suppose Addison DeWitt has lost no time in telling the world about Lloyd and Eve.”

She saw Bill and Margo exchange an uncomfortable glance. Suddenly she felt a cold certainty that whatever they said next would change her life forever.

Bill squared his shoulders. “Lloyd and Eve were in a car accident early this morning. Lloyd was killed on impact.”

The words hit her like a physical blow. “What about Eve?” Karen demanded.

She didn’t really hear Bill’s answer, however. Somehow, Karen knew that Eve would be all right, knew that somehow, Eve would escape from this tragedy.

Somehow, it would end up being all about Eve – not about everyone she had harmed along the way.

If only Karen had kept walking by that girl outside the theater…

If only.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I love this movie, but every time I watch it, I wonder how Lloyd can be such an idiot about seeing Eve for what she really is...


End file.
